Dear Brent, Reguarding the new NVIDIA/AMD Drivers

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Brackle

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I know its ALOT of f'in work for you to do a review (a proper one at that) with the new performance drivers from Nvidia and AMD. Do you plan to do a big write up here to compare the 2 and show us how much it did improve? I have always been a fan of the way [H] does the video card reviews.

If you have posted somewhere already with this answer, please just delete this post.

Thanks again,
Long time [H] poster
 
Have they ever? I thought they never use newer drivers unless they are reviewing a newly released card.

I'm sure tens of thousands of people visit the site without coming to the forums who read the published reviews and see the buy nvidia verdict.

For everyone else it likely doesn't matter since we know latest drivers put the cards on par if not ahead of the GTX 680.
 
Brent, don't waste your time on the same ol' same ol' IMO. Just keep focusing on new tech if you ask me. If people want to know how the new drivers work they can download them and run some benches.
 
DooKey said:
Brent, don't waste your time on the same ol' same ol' IMO. Just keep focusing on new tech if you ask me. If people want to know how the new drivers work they can download them and run some benches.
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What about people who are currently shopping for a new video card right now? Some people want to see those real world benchmarks, and not the canned ones from around the net. (I for one)

This is why I asked if he was going to do it. And since there are no new cards until maybe march/april....how can he worry about new tech if not coming for another 6 months?
 
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I would be interested in seeing a 7950, 7970, 660 Ti, 670 and 680 round up with the new drivers.
 
DASHlT said:
What about people who are currently shopping for a new video card right now? Some people want to see those real world benchmarks, and not the canned ones from around the net. (I for one)

This is why I asked if he was going to do it. And since there are no new cards until make march/april....how can he worry about new tech if not coming for another 6 months?
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Seriously, I'd MUCH rather see this than another review of a factory overclocked card with a new fancy cooler on it.. at some point those reviews become pretty redundant. Not like theres anything they can do about it when the GPU's are 9 months old, but it still helps people make a decision between 7970 or 670/680 while being fully informed.
DooKey said:
Brent, don't waste your time on the same ol' same ol' IMO. Just keep focusing on new tech if you ask me. If people want to know how the new drivers work they can download them and run some benches.
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I'm not sure how "new driver tech" is somehow less compelling than "new factory overclock". Another refreshed EVGA super-duper-overclocked-lightning7-top12-directfanvaporcool 680 isn't exactly getting the ol' heart pumping over here
 
I think this is relevant considering the criticism that has been leveraged at AMD's driver team.

You know what I think would be a great article? Compare the 7970/7950 with launch drivers and the 12.11 betas, and the GeForce 670/680 with launch drivers and the 310.33s. See how much each company has improved the product in the last 10 months.
 
Rizen said:
I think this is relevant considering the criticism that has been leveraged at AMD's driver team.

You know what I think would be a great article? Compare the 7970/7950 with launch drivers and the 12.11 betas, and the GeForce 670/680 with launch drivers and the 310.33s. See how much each company has improved the product in the last 10 months.
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That is something I would like to see.
 
Rizen said:
I think this is relevant considering the criticism that has been leveraged at AMD's driver team.

You know what I think would be a great article? Compare the 7970/7950 with launch drivers and the 12.11 betas, and the GeForce 670/680 with launch drivers and the 310.33s. See how much each company has improved the product in the last 10 months.
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I would also be interested in this.
 
Rizen said:
I would be interested in seeing a 7950, 7970, 660 Ti, 670 and 680 round up with the new drivers.
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This sounds nice- but it's hard to see this as anything other than a waste of time if there's not a new product, after all.

Really just need a GCN vs. Kepler look, and it doesn't have to be in depth- just enough to see if something's really changed and to do a reality check on the respective companies' driver claims.

I'm sure the B.S. meter is already pretty high though.
 
PRIME1 said:
Seems like a waste of time.
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For those interested, probably not, but in the grand scheme of things, I think you're right. Still, if they found time to do it, it'd be worthwhile- I just don't see other projects getting shelved for something like this.
 
DASHlT said:
What about people who are currently shopping for a new video card right now? Some people want to see those real world benchmarks, and not the canned ones from around the net. (I for one)

This is why I asked if he was going to do it. And since there are no new cards until maybe march/april....how can he worry about new tech if not coming for another 6 months?
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agreed. the initial price performance equations have changed drastically. the HD 7900 series cards are looking very good from price perf. And with the NEVER SETTLE game bundle its just very attractive.
 
PRIME1 said:
Seems like a waste of time.
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Not trying to start anything, but just curious on your reasoning behind this post? I've been reading alot of field reports, many from release day 79xx series owners, claiming these drivers almost feel like an 89xx/.5 series next gen upgrade. Would be nice to finally clear the air with a source I can trust without a doubt like [H] and settle this gen's gpu king status once and for all.

While occasionally entertaining, I think I've reached my threshold for red vs blue driver superiority brag threads/posts and would like something concrete and solid for once to dispel the hyperbole and most importantly for the sake of consumer clarity.
 
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Most all of this will be solved if any AMD cards are released soon. [H] usually never goes back for second looks, but they generally use the latest drivers available.

12.11 would likely change the overall verdict of most of the 7XXX series with the price drops.

I can see the problem, if they go back and change verdicts on the trifire, and release reviews you are affecting basically every review there is.

From what I have seen on other sites they cut paste a ***NOTE Here *** type of message linking to a quick overview of driver performance and verdicts for the here and now. They put that note on the bottom or top of the review.

To be honest you wouldn't even need a whole review, just a quick 1-2 page overview with BF3 and 2 more random games.
 
I currently don't have anything specific planned along those lines, however I am working on a review right now that I had to re-test due to the new drivers. It's a GTX 660 Ti SLI review, will include single display and nv surround/eyefinity results with proper comparisons. I am using the new 310.33 driver and cat 12.11 beta drivers, so the new drivers will fully be used for this review and represent the best performance possible.

All reviews being started from this point forward, will use the new drivers.
 
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Well you all know how the new drivers perform, you have all seen fx. the review at Anandtech.

You all know the this doesnt fit the standard melody at H for now, so to speak.

So what are you asking for?
 
Given the bold claims being made by Nvidia and AMD, it would be nice to see those claims verified/debunked. Radeons finally catching up in BF3? But I imagine the eds here have a lot of work on their plate already.
 
Brent_Justice said:
I currently don't have anything specific planned along those lines, however I am working on a review right now that I had to re-test due to the new drivers. It's a GTX 660 Ti SLI review, will include single display and nv surround/eyefinity results with proper comparisons. I am using the new 310.33 driver and cat 12.11 beta drivers, so the new drivers will fully be used for this review and represent the best performance possible.

All reviews being started from this point forward, will use the new drivers.
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Good to hear :), Hopefully there will be some 680/7970 GE numbers in there too
 
In the title of the thread, the word is regarding not reguarding. Grammar police out.

H will keep up with the obvious updates. No worries in that regard.
 
spaceman said:
In the title of the thread, the word is regarding not reguarding. Grammar police out.

H will keep up with the obvious updates. No worries in that regard.
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Correcting spelling isn't correcting grammar. You were correcting spelling, not diction (a component of grammar), because the word "reguarding" does not exist. Accuracy police out.

The issue is that the [H] reviews currently give the nod to Nvidia, and this simply isn't accurate on both absolute performance and price/performance grounds now.
 
wabbitseason said:
The issue is that the [H] reviews currently give the nod to Nvidia, and this simply isn't accurate on both absolute performance and price/performance grounds now.
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But it is accurate when considering the whole package- AMD's foul-ups with drivers and higher power usage at a given performance level are things people do consider. I went with Nvidia (from HD6950 CFX) this generation based on stability and efficiency, and noise. But I use blowers exclusively, and this is where AMD screwed the pooch with the HD7000's, while Nvidia's extra effort shows.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
But it is accurate when considering the whole package- AMD's foul-ups with drivers and higher power usage at a given performance level are things people do consider. I went with Nvidia (from HD6950 CFX) this generation based on stability and efficiency, and noise. But I use blowers exclusively, and this is where AMD screwed the pooch with the HD7000's, while Nvidia's extra effort shows.
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Which if there was no custom coolers available now would be true as we are talking about the present state generally and and not what you personally use exclusively or like personally.
 
For me if i am readin up on a new card what I want to see is it how it compares to my existing card, not how it compares to other cards in the same gen.

eg. when I went from 8800GT to gtx460 I wanted to see comparisons, instead the gtx460 was just compared to gtx480 and 490 etc.
 
Ticker305 said:
Not trying to start anything, but just curious on your reasoning behind this post? I've been reading alot of field reports, many from release day 79xx series owners, claiming these drivers almost feel like an 89xx/.5 series next gen upgrade. Would be nice to finally clear the air with a source I can trust without a doubt like [H] and settle this gen's gpu king status once and for all.

While occasionally entertaining, I think I've reached my threshold for red vs blue driver superiority brag threads/posts and would like something concrete and solid for once to dispel the hyperbole and most importantly for the sake of consumer clarity.
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It takes a lot of work to fully benchmark games. New drivers come out all the time. It makes more sense to just wait for some new hardware to come along and then run tests with the new drivers.

Xmas is coming, I'm sure one or both companies will pull something out of their hat to sell. Plus there will be some new game coming out prior to 12/25 it would be nice to see those benchmarked.
 
Brent_Justice said:
I currently don't have anything specific planned along those lines, however I am working on a review right now that I had to re-test due to the new drivers. It's a GTX 660 Ti SLI review, will include single display and nv surround/eyefinity results with proper comparisons. I am using the new 310.33 driver and cat 12.11 beta drivers, so the new drivers will fully be used for this review and represent the best performance possible.

All reviews being started from this point forward, will use the new drivers.
Click to expand...

Good enough for me. Thanks
 
PRIME1 said:
It takes a lot of work to fully benchmark games. New drivers come out all the time. It makes more sense to just wait for some new hardware to come along and then run tests with the new drivers.

Xmas is coming, I'm sure one or both companies will pull something out of their hat to sell. Plus there will be some new game coming out prior to 12/25 it would be nice to see those benchmarked.
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No they won't. What you have now is what you'll have for christmas. Next gen will come 1stQ 2013 at the earliest.
 
Final8ty said:
Which if there was no custom coolers available now would be true as we are talking about the present state generally and and not what you personally use exclusively or like personally.
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There's a reason for using the blowers as they relate to the total system design. The custom cards get \squirly when you need two or more; the amount of airflow needed to keep them from choking on themselves quickly erases whatever cooling and noise gains they made.
 
Rizen said:
I think this is relevant considering the criticism that has been leveraged at AMD's driver team.
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Yeah, but we all know that's fanboyism and not any real criticism. A new "performance driver" certainly wont change the amount of fanboys on the internet. They are going to continue spouting the same bull as if it's fact.

Anyways, I believe there are a niche site or two that kinda specialize in testing/reviewing new GPU driver releases. Unfortunately they slip my mind right now, maybe somebody can help...
 
Shark974 said:
Yeah, but we all know that's fanboyism and not any real criticism. A new "performance driver" certainly wont change the amount of fanboys on the internet. They are going to continue spouting the same bull as if it's fact.

Anyways, I believe there are a niche site or two that kinda specialize in testing/reviewing new GPU driver releases. Unfortunately they slip my mind right now, maybe somebody can help...
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If you owned an AMD card or cards last year (especially cards), the criticism is well founded. BF3 stuttery as hell? Disabling CFX just to play Skyrim?

Yeah, those criticisms are founded.
 
Shark974 said:
Yeah, but we all know that's fanboyism and not any real criticism. A new "performance driver" certainly wont change the amount of fanboys on the internet. They are going to continue spouting the same bull as if it's fact.

Anyways, I believe there are a niche site or two that kinda specialize in testing/reviewing new GPU driver releases. Unfortunately they slip my mind right now, maybe somebody can help...
Click to expand...
I owned 5000-series cards and they were fine. The 6000 series seemed good as well. But they definitely dropped the ball on the 7000 series for a long time. HardOCP, rightly, called them out on it several times. My point was that if they truly have turned around the driver quality, I would be interested to see by how much.
 
I'd rather see new content than a full article showing that new AMD driver give BF3 a nice boost and a small boost to everything else.

It is just a better driver, it's not the second coming for AMD.
 
ocellaris said:
I'd rather see new content than a full article showing that new AMD driver give BF3 a nice boost and a small boost to everything else.

It is just a better driver, it's not the second coming for AMD.
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I'd love to see new content too, but what else is there to write about right now with GPUs? The Lightning and Classified 680s and the MATRIX 7970 were the last interesting cards, imo. Not sure what else is out there.
 
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